Why Focus on the Green Economy?
Three Reasons
First, the United States has been deindustrializing for a period of about 40 years. Good employment opportunities
previously found in the manufacturing sector of the United States have diminished substantially. In the United States, manufacturing employed approximately 28 percent of all workers in the early 1950s; by 2008 that had declined to approximately 12 percent. Most of those manufacturing jobs have been replaced by service jobs, which are largely much lower paying and less secure. In Tennessee, these trends are equally clear: non-farm manufacturing jobs totaled 493,000 in 2000; by 2009 that number had reduced to 297,800 jobs. The green economy helps address the damage of deindustrialization because it helps low-income, under- and unemployed workers to find well-paying, secure careers, while improving local and global responses to climate change. Second, the green economy shows great promise of further expansion. One reason, for example, is due to the increasing recognition of the damage incurred through traditional forms of production. Additionally, foreign markets are limiting their imports to products with lower levels of toxicity in content and process. This consumption and regulation shift guarantees an expanding market. The green economy also provides broad occupational possibilities green production requires blue-collar manufacturing labor as well as white-collar designers, engineers, and researchers. Table 1 below lists the different sectors in the green economy. Finally, Knoxville was recently ranked as the fastest growing green-job growth area in the nation.1 Knoxvilles green jobs, however, are largely concentrated in the clean energy sector, leaving plenty of room for diversified growth.1
Table 1. Description of Green Economic Sectors2 Sector Description Alternative A ground vehicle propelled by a motor powered by Vehicle Use electrical energy from rechargeable batteries or another source onboard the vehicle, or from an external source in, on, or above the roadway Biomass and Biofuels Energy Efficiency Green Building Recycling and Waste Management Renewable Energy Smart Grid and Smart Energy Sustainable Agriculture
1
Sample Occupations Research and development jobs, technology design jobs, hybrid and biodiesel vehicle conversion and repair jobs, maintenance jobs, automotive service technicians and mechanics Process technicians in biodiesel or ethanol companies Electricians, technicians, insulation workers, equipment and installation specialist (e.g. solar panel installation), home weatherizing, energy auditors Green architects, HVAC workers, carpenters, plumbers, welders, electricians, sheet-metal workers Recycling technician, waste treatment operators, sustainability coordinator, bio-mimicry engineer, environmental science Solar panel installer, steelworkers Field and control engineers, communication protocol program manager, managing consultant Sustainable/organic farming, local food production/systems, sustainable forestry
Fuel creation from chemical/biological materials other than fossil fuels The retrofitting of existing building infrastructure using healthy and more resource-efficient models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance The design and construction of environmentally sustainable and energy efficient buildings The use of natural resources (i.e. other than biomass) for energy which are naturally replenished The use of natural resources (i.e. other than biomass) for energy which are naturally replenished Auto-balancing, self-monitoring power grid that accepts any source of fuel and transforms it into a consumers optimal renewable energy usage An integrated system of plant and animal production practices that are efficient and sustainable
Brookings Institute. 2011. Sizing the Clean Economy: The Clean Economy in Little Rock, AR Metropolitan Area. Retrieved October 21, 2012 (http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/series/clean%20economy/30780). 2 Scarpa, Juliet P. 2009. A Growing Green Economy: Opportunities of Tomorrow. Seattle Jobs Initiative. Retrieved October 23, 2012 (http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Growing%20Green%20Economy.pdf).
